With Crew Girl on the horizon and Bet returning for Season 2, the actor embraces new challenges and the power of showing up.

PHOTOGRAPHY Yasmine Diba
STYLED BY: Chris Kim
At just 21 years old, Miku Martineau already has the kind of résumé actors spend years building. In only a handful of projects, the Japanese-Canadian actress has gone from playing a rebellious, sharp-tongued Yakuza princess opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Kate to stepping into the chaotic, calculating world of Bet. Now, with another Netflix series on the horizon, Martineau isn’t overthinking any of it.
“I really just have fun in the moment,” she says. “I love what I do, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world sometimes, being able to continue my craft.” Later this summer, audiences will see that spirit onscreen in Crew Girl, Netflix’s upcoming rowing drama that already feels primed to become the internet’s next obsession. The series follows Martineau’s character, Teagan, an ambitious young coxswain navigating the volatile dynamics of an elite all-boys rowing team. Like other YA hits before it, the show is packed with rivalry, romance, and enough emotional chaos to fuel endless group chats.
For Martineau, Teagan offered a stark contrast to the sharper-edged characters she’s played in the past. “She’s just a 16-year-old girl whose life has been completely turned upside down,” she says. “I think it’s such a universal adolescent experience to not know how to navigate life when it comes at you all at once.”

The role also drew on Martineau’s athletic background. Growing up, she immersed herself in gymnastics, volleyball, hockey, and figure skating—experiences that unexpectedly informed her approach to the physically demanding series. Before filming, the cast spent weeks training together in Victoria, British Columbia, rowing daily on the water. “It was the best summer of my life,” she says. “We were all becoming friends while learning this really difficult sport together. It genuinely made us feel like a team.”
That sense of camaraderie mirrors the spirit of the show itself. Crew Girl is about teenagers trying to figure out who they are while desperately wanting to belong. Add a love triangle within the rowing team, and things quickly become “messy in the best way,” as Martineau puts it.

Then there’s Season 2 of Bet, which occupies the opposite end of the Netflix spectrum and is expected to premiere in 2027. Adapted from the Japanese manga series Kakegurui, the psychological thriller takes place at an elite boarding school where gambling determines students’ places within a brutal social hierarchy. While Teagan is emotionally open and vulnerable, Martineau describes her character, Yumiko, as “a praying mantis mixed with a pit bull frothing at the mouth.”
“I love playing characters that are so far removed from my own life,” says the actor, who stays close to her roots by frequently returning to Japan, where much of her family lives. In her downtime, she hikes, spends time with her cat, Brick—named after Steve Carell’s character in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy—and teaches herself electric guitar. After watching Sex and the City for the first time, she developed a newfound obsession with fashion; lately, she’s been gravitating toward Miu Miu. “I’m in a colorful mood right now,” she says. Her sunny outlook reflects a broader life philosophy. “Believe in yourself, and take a chance on yourself,” she says. “It’s not cringe to try. It’s actually quite beautiful.”

HAIR: Andy Lecompte THE WALL GROUP
MAKEUP: Kendal Fedail FORWARD ARTISTS&nbsp;

Miku Martineau Doesn't Believe in Playing It Cool

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